Road maintainer and grader



June 14; 19.2 J' H. WELSH ROAD MAINTAINER AND GRADER Filed May 8, 192

June 14,1927. 1,632,685

J. H. WELSH Rom MAINTAINER AND GRADER Fiiad May 8. 192a 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 wuantot w. 3 3

Patented June '14, 1927. v

STATES 1 v j 1,632,685 PATENT, OFFICE.

' "JA ES E SH, or ivronmon'rm trmors.

' Roan MAINTAINER AND eaanna.

Applicationfiled May 8, 1926.- Serial No. 107,663. 1

This invention relates tov road maintaining machines and particularly to graders and scrapers, and the general object of the invention is toflprovide aroad maintaining machine having a. plurality ,of; pairs of blades so arranged that dirt scraped from i the roadby the blades will first move to the center ofthe machine, and will be next moved outward by a second pair of blades and that later the earth so scraped from the surface of the road will be smoothed and filled into any hollow spaces.

A further object is to provide means for raising or lowering the frame upon which '2 the blades are mounted and means for reversing the blades.

' with my invention;

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a top plan view of a grader and maintainer constructed in accordance Fig. 2 is a secti Figure 1; Fig.3 is a section on theiline 3-3 of on on the line 2 2 of Figure 1 Fig. 4 is a plan view showing two graders V joined together to form a duplicate drag. Referring to these drawings it will be seen that the main frame of the scraper and grader is more or less rectangular in form and consists of angle irons 10, though of course, channel irons might be used. This 1 main frame is braced byvertical and rearwardly extending intermediate irons 11.

The main frame will have a width of approimately 8 more or less and attached to the forward corners of the main frame are hitch. chains or rodsl2, these chains or rods extending forward and convergently and being adapted to be connected to any suitable draft appliance. This main frame may be "supported by means of wheels 14: mounted upon upwardly extending levers 15, all of nated 19. These blades are operatively supported upon the longitudinal bars of the main frame and the cross bars 11 and extend outward beyond the main frameand inward of the braces 11. These grader blades are made of steel and pivoted on the mainframe by suitable means and the blades are preferably concaved. vBearward of the blades 19 is a second set of blades 20 of thesame character asthe first set of blades but extending inward a greater dis-. tance. so that the space between this secondset of'blades is less than the distance between the first set of blades. Preferably the "two front blades are shorter than the rear blades. These rear blades 20 are preferably disposed to extend outward and rearward ata slight angle while the forward blades are disposed to extend outward and forward at a slight angle.

Disposed rearward of theblades 20 are the smoothing bars 21 of flat steel which have lugs pivoted to the main frame so thatthese smoothing bars are also tiltable as arethe blades 19 and 20. These smoothing bars are preferably disposed approximately parallel to the blades 19 and preferably these bars abut against each other. Mounted upon the longitudinal braces 11 or in any other suit able position'are the adjusting levers 22 opcrating over arcuate racks 23 and connected bv links 24 to the upper ends of the legs supporting the front blades 19 and to the upper ends of the lugs which support the smoothing bars 21. Thus, by shifting the levers 22 the front blades 19 and the smoothing irons 21 maybe shifted so as to change their inclination. The blades-20 are also mounted so that'their inclination may be changed and to this end the blades 20 each having an upwardly projecting handle or lever 25 adapted to be held in any adjusted position bymeans of the usual latch engaging an arcuate rack 26. Thus by shifting the levers 22 and 25 the blades19 and'20 and the smoothing bars 21 may be changed as to inclination. The

operation'of this grader or road maintainer is as follows :-The two front blades 19 move the dirt of the road towards the center of the machine and cut down all hammocks and rats, the dirt of course, being removed into the low portions of the road. The two middle blades 20 move the dirt from the middle outward in oppositedirections to the movement of the dirt by the, two front blades. The two smoothing bars are disposed preferably on about a 20 angleand act to move the dirt from the second blades over'the same ground as the blades, thus leaving a smooth surface, filling up all depressions in the roadway and cutting down protuberances.

I claim A road maintainer of the character described including an approximately rectangular frame, a pair of forwardly and downwardly curved grader blades pivotally mounted upon the frame andextending'inward and rearward in angular relation to each other, a second pair of forwardly and downwardly curved grader blades disposed rearward of the first pair and extending inward and forward and pivotally connected to the frame, a pair of smoothing bars being flat and each being disposedat an angle to the line of draft and approximately parallel to the first named blades, the smoothing bars being pivotally mounted upon thesupportim frame, means for tilting the blades and said smoothing bars, including levers having linked connection with the first named blades andv the smoothing bars, and separate, independently operable levers conneeted to the second named blades to tilt them, and means for holding the lovers in adj usted; positions, arms pivotally mounted upon the frame adjacent the corners thereof, supporting wheels mounted upon said arms, levers for each pair of supporting wheels and having linked connection to said arms whereby the wheels may be shifted nearer to or further from the frame.

In testimony whereof I hereunto allix my signature.

JAMES H. WELSH. 

